| China, between a rocket and a hard place on North Korea Posted:  BEIJING (Reuters) - A joke circulating among officials in Beijing pretty much underlines the bind China is in over North Korea's plans to send a satellite into space. North Korea's young ruler Kim Jong-un phones a Chinese leader to tell him about timing of the planned rocket launch. "When will it be?" asks the Chinese leader. Kim replies: "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four... ...
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| China ejects Bo from elite ranks, wife suspected of murder Posted:  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Communist Party has suspended former high-flying politician Bo Xilai from its top ranks and named his wife a suspect in the murder of a British businessman, a dramatic turn in a scandal shaking leadership succession plans. The decision to banish Bo from the Central Committee and its Politburo effectively ends the career of China's brashest and most controversial politician, widely seen as pressing for a top post in China's next leadership to be settled later this year. ...
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| Exclusive: Peru's president faces claim at Americas rights commission Posted:  LIMA (Reuters) - A lawsuit Peruvian President Ollanta Humala successfully fought in courts before being elected has been filed to the main human rights body in the Americas - potentially reopening a case that cost him politically in the past. Documents reviewed by Reuters show that lawyers for a relative of two people who were disappeared in 1992, when Humala was an army officer battling Maoist guerrillas, have sent a claim against the Peruvian state to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. ...
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| Syrian forces press assault as peace plan falters Posted:  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces pressed home a sustained assault on opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, ignoring an international peace plan under which troops were to silence their guns and withdraw from urban areas. Opposition groups said Syrian troops killed 31 people on Tuesday, and Turkish media reported heavy gunfire coming from what appeared to be an army post topped with a Syrian flag a short distance from the Turkish border. Peace envoy Kofi Annan appealed to the U.N. ...
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| UK can send Islamist cleric to face U.S. trial Posted:  STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Britain can extradite its most notorious Islamist cleric to the United States to stand trial on charges that he supported al Qaeda and aided a fatal kidnapping in Yemen, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday. Egyptian-born Abu Hamza al-Masri, a one-eyed radical with a metal hook for a hand who praised the September 11, 2001 attacks, faces a sentence of over 100 years in high-security U.S. prisons if found guilty, a step he said would contravene his human rights. ...
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| South Koreans vote under North's rocket threat Posted:  SEOUL (Reuters) - South Koreans voted in parliamentary elections on Wednesday, overshadowed by a North Korean rocket launch, as the ruling conservatives sought to overcome allegations of sleaze and growing discontent over the power of big business. Opinion polls indicate that the conservatives and the left-wing opposition parties are in a dead heat in the election that serves as a curtain-raiser for the more important presidential vote in December. ...
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| Peru says rescue of 9 trapped miners imminent Posted:  ICA, Peru (Reuters) - Rescuers were closing in on nine workers trapped inside a wildcat mine in southern Peru on Tuesday and officials said they could be pulled to the surface within hours after spending five days underground. The men have been stuck about 656 feet below ground since the Cabeza de Negro gold-and-copper mine partially collapsed on Thursday. They have been receiving oxygen and liquids through a giant hose in place since before the accident. ...
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| Gunmen kill 7 taxi drivers in northern Mexico Posted: MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Gunmen on Tuesday shot dead seven taxi drivers on the outskirts of the industrial hub of Monterrey, which has become one of Mexico's most violent cities during a turf war between rival drug cartels. The taxi drivers were killed as they waited at two depots next to their Volkswagen Beetle cars in the municipality of Guadalupe, six kilometers (3.7 miles) from Monterrey's center. Police officers at the scene said they did not immediately know the motive for the attack, which bore the signs of a gangland killing. ... |
| Iran can stand 2-3 year oil blockade: Ahmadinejad Posted:  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has enough funds to withstand a total embargo on its oil sales for two to three years, Iranian media quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying days before the resumption of talks with world powers on Tehran's nuclear programme. The European Union is set to impose a total embargo on Iranian crude oil from July following similar measures imposed by the United States to try to force Iran to abandon uranium enrichment. ...
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| Kidnapped Costa Rican diplomat freed in Venezuela Posted:  CARACAS (Reuters) - A Costa Rican diplomat kidnapped last weekend and held for ransom in the latest attack on foreign envoys in Venezuela was released on Tuesday and is in good health despite having suffered a blow to the head, authorities said. Several abductions in the past few months have worried the diplomatic community and underlined Venezuela's high crime rate - the top concern of voters during an election year. ...
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| Syria defies cease-fire plan as peace hopes fade Posted:  Syrian troops defied a U.N.-brokered cease-fire plan on Tuesday, launching fresh attacks on rebellious areas, but special envoy Kofi Annan said there was still time to salvage a truce that he described as the only chance for peace.
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| China ousts top politician, accuses wife of murder Posted:  A flamboyant and telegenic politician who until recently seemed destined for the top ranks of China's leadership was stripped of his most powerful posts on Tuesday and his wife named in the murder of a British businessman as Chinese leaders moved to stem a scandal that has exposed divisive infighting.
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| Court: UK can extradite 5 terror suspects to US Posted:  Europe's human rights court ruled Thursday that Britain can send a radical Muslim cleric and four other suspects to the United States to face terrorism charges in a case that has been closely watched as an indicator of whether tough U.S. prisons could influence extradition policy.
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| Spain town nixes pot-growing plan to pay off debt Posted:  What about growing marijuana to pay off crushing municipal debt? One Spanish village put the idea to the vote Tuesday, and a majority of its citizens approved — but not the 75 percent needed.
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| AP Interview: Islamist warns of 'new Mubarak' Posted:  The candidate for Egypt's most influential political force, the Muslim Brotherhood, warned Tuesday that the country's upcoming presidential race may be rigged, a sign of rising tensions as his group faces off against one of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak's most powerful deputies.
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| Medical emergency delays Titanic memorial cruise Posted:  A cruise ship retracing the route of the Titanic had to interrupt its journey on Tuesday because of a medical emergency on board, organizers said.
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| NKorea space official: Rocket ready for launch Posted:  North Korean space officials said Tuesday that the rocket built to carry a satellite into space was ready for liftoff this week as the nation's leadership makes a series of appointments before a major political gathering.
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| Denmark PM to Bahrain: release jailed activist Posted:  Denmark's prime minister urged Bahrain to release a jailed activist with dual citizenship on Tuesday, saying he's in "very critical" condition after a two-month hunger strike, but the Gulf kingdom denies that his health is failing.
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| Assailants attack UN convoy in Libya, no one hurt Posted: Assailants threw a homemade bomb at a U.N. convoy in which the world body's top diplomat in the country was traveling in Libya's main eastern city on Tuesday, according to a security official. |
| EU court: UK can extradite 5 terror suspects to US Posted: Europe's human rights court ruled Thursday that Britain can send a radical Muslim cleric and four other suspects to the United States to face terrorism charges in a case that has been closely watched as an indicator of whether tough U.S. prisons could influence extradition policy. |
